Clicker toy



Nov. 10, 1970 w. 5. SMITH 3,538,637

CLICKER TOY Filed Oct. 30, 1968 INVENTOR. WILLARD 3. SMITH ATTORNEYS3,538,637 CLICKER TOY Willard S. Smith, Lindstrm, Minn., assignor toPlastic Products Company, Inc., Lindstrom, Minn., a corporation ofMinnesota Filed Oct. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 771,734 Int. Cl. A63h /00 US.Cl. 46--189 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A clicker toyconstructed of relatively hard plastic material molded in the form of aU-shaped member having two arms bendable towards each other and aflexible sounding reed extending lengthwise there'between. Non-alignedprojections depending inwardly from the two arms serve to engage thesounding reed and snap it back and forth between the arms to produceclicking noises as the arms are pressed towards each other and thenreleased.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The noise making toy to which thisinvention is directed is particularly characterized by a simple,U-shaped structure having a relatively thin, sounding reed extendingbetween the side arms thereof, the reed being fixed at one end to thebase or nose portion of the U-shaped structure and freely suspended atits opposite end so that it may be snapped back and forth between theaforesaid arms to produce clicking noises.

The clicker toy is advantageously molded as a unitary structure frommedium impact hardness plastic such as styrene, the relatively hardplastic material serving to produce the desired clicking noise as theaforesaid reed is snapped thereagainst.

As a particularly advantageous feature of my invention, I utilized twocontact members extending inwardly from the aforesaid side arms of theU-shaped toy to snap the sounding reed back and forth in rapidsuccession to produce two clicking noises as the arms are pressedtowards each other and then released. One of the contact members is inthe form of a cam positioned to engage the free end of the soundingreed, and the other contact member is a stop element projecting from theother side arm between the opposite ends of the reed. As the arm onwhich the cam is carried is pressed inwardly, the cam contacts the reedand bends it over the stop element until the reed springs free and snapsagainst the cam-supporting arm to produce a clicking noise. As pressureon the arms is released and they move apart, the aforesaid cam memheragain engages the sounding reed, flexing it in the opposite directionand snapping it against the stop element to make a second clickingnoise.

A further significant aspect of my clicker toy invention resides in theforming of the U-shaped toy with an arcuate nose portion from which thestiffened side arms extend rearwardly. The arcuate nose will bend anddeform inwardly a sufficient amount to permit the cam carrying side armto be pressed inwardly the necessary United States Patent 0 3,538,637-Patented Nov. 10, 1970 distance to actuate the sounding reed andaccomplish the clicking action.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will becomereadily apparent as the following description is read in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals have beenutilized to designate like elements throughout the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of theclicker toy of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top, plan view of the clicker toy with the side arms thereofin the positions which they will normally assume;

FIGS. 3 through 6 are sequential top views showing the elements of theclicker toy in the positions which they will be in as the side arms arepressed together and then released to produce the clicking noises;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation view of the toy of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 8 is a front elevation view of the toy of FIG. 2.

As appears most clearly in the perspective view of FIG. 1, the noisemaking toy of this invention is comprised of a substantially U-shapedmember indicated generally by reference numeral 1. U-shaped toy 1includes a rounded nose portion 2 at its forward end and side arms 4 and6 extending rearwardly therefrom. Arms 4 and 6 are provided withstrengthening and stiffening webs 8 and 10 extending outwardly at rightangles thereto in the manner shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Disposed betweenarms 4 and 6 is a flexible reed 12 secured at one end to nose portion 2and having a freely suspended contact portion 14 at its opposite end.Reed 12 is quite thin and may have a thickness on the order of .030inch. Arms 4 and 6 and nose portion 2 of U-shaped member 1 have asomewhat greater thickness of approximately one-sixteenth inch. Sinceclicker toy I is intended to be used primarily as a novelty premiumincluded in food packages, it is quite small and has an overall lengthof 2 inches or less. Side arms 4 and 6 may possibly be only one-quarterinch in height. Although stillening webs 8 and 10 may be located at thetop or bottom of arms 4 and 6, they are preferably positioned in themiddle of arms 4 and 6 and extend lengthwise thereof in the arrangementshown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

For the purpose of producing the desired clicking noise, I provide twocontact members 16 and '20 which depend inwardly from side arms 4 and 6respectively. Member 16 acts as a cam to actuate reed 12 in mannerhereinafter explained and is provided with an enlarged contact portion18 on its inner end. Cam member 16 is positioned at a point on arm 4adjacent to enlarged contact portion 14 of reed 12 in order that it mayengage and actuate reed 12 to produce clicking noises in the manner setforth below. Inwardly projecting member 20 acts as a stop member forreed 12 and is located on arm 6 with its enlarged contact head 22disposed between the opposite ends of reed 12.

Although various material including both metals and plastics could beused for the construction of my clicker toy I, I prefer to mold U-shapedmember 1 as an integral unit from a plastic material such as styrenehaving a medium impact hardness characteristic. Arms 4 and 6, beingrelatively thick, are quite hard and stiff throughout their length, andare particularly made so by the forming of stiffening webs 8 and 10integrally therewith. Reed 12 is thin enough to be flexible and to actas a leaf spring when biased downwardly against stop 20 in the mannerdescribed below.

When clicker toy I is not being used or subjected to actuating pressure,side arms 4 and 6 will assume the outwardly angled rest position shownin FIG. 2. In order to cause toy I to make clicking noises, the operatorgrasps the outer ends of arms 4 and 6 between his thumb and forefingerand presses inwardly. The inwardly directed pressure indicated by thearrows in FIG. 3 will cause arcuate nose portion 2 to bend and deforminwardly, thereby permitting arms 4 and 6 to move towards each other tothe position shown in FIG. 3. I have found that the necessary bendingaction of rounded nose 2 can be achieved by providing arcuate end 2 witha diameter of at least three-quarters of an inch. Stiffeners 8 and 10insure that arms 4 and 6 remain straight and rigid throughout theirlengths as pressure is applied to their outer ends, with the onlybending action taking place at the points where arms 4 and 6 merge witharcuate nose potrion 2. The application of pressure to the outer ends ofarms 4 and 6 causes arm 4 to move inwardly to the point where enlargedportion 18 of cam 16 strikes contact portion 14 or reed 12 as shown inFIG. 3. Contact head 22 of stop member 20 will also be brought intocontact with reed 12 at a point intermediate its length in the mannershown in FIG. 4. The continued application of pressure to arms 4 and 6will cause cam contact portion 18 to flex reed 12 downwardly overcontact head 22 of stop 20, thus bending reed 12 slightly to the shapeshown in FIG. 4. As the operator continues to apply inwardly directedpressure to arm 4, cam 16 will bend the free end of reed 12 downwardlyand inwardly to the point where contact portion 14 thereof is urged outof the path of cam contact portion 18. Contact portion 18 of cam 16 willthen move past contact portion 14 of reed 12, thereby disengaging reed12 and permitting it to spring free and snap against the underside ofarm 4 to produce a relatively loud clicking noise. The bending andflexing of reed 12 over stop element 20 imparts a spring action to reed12 when it is released by cam 16, causing it to snap into the positionshown in FIG. in contact with arm 4. The relatively hard plasticmaterial from which U-shaped member 1 is formed causes a sharp andclearly audible clicking noise to be produced when reed 12 snaps againstarm 4.

The cylindrical shape of contact lugs 14 and 18 and their parallelpositioning with respect to each other as appears in FIG. 1 insures thatthey will engage each other along curved surfaces, thereby permittingcontact lug 14 to more easily become disengaged from cam lug 18 as thefree end of reed 12 bends away from cam member 16.

After contact portion 14 of reed 12 clicks against the underside of arm4, the pressume on the outer end of arms 4 and 6 is released, thuspermitting arms 4 and 6 to spring outwardly in the direction indicatedby the arrows in FIG. 6. As arm 4 moves outwardly, cam contact head orlug 18 again strikes contact portion 14 of reed 12, whereby reed 12 isbiased upwardly to the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 6. Thecontinued outward movement of arm 4 then carries cam head 18 pastcontact portion 14 with the result that reed 12 snaps downwardly againstenlarged portion 22 of step 20 to produce a second clicking noise. Asreed 12 strikes stop member 20, it vibrates to set up a resonance andthus a deeper and lower-pitched noise than was produced by the strikingof reed 12 against arm 4. The downward flexing of reed 12 against stop20 is illustrated in dotted lines in FIG. 6. After the inward pressureon arms 4 and 6 has been completely released, they will again assume theoutwardly extending rest position shown in FIG. 2.

It is to be noted that stop member 20 projects inwardly a suflicientdistance from arm 6 that reed 12 will strike it and be bent over itafter arm 4 has been pressed inwardly a relatively short distance, thusprecluding the need for extensive movement of arm 4. The bending anddeformation of arcuate nose portion 2 is thus held to a minimum with theresult that only limited stresses are imposed thereon. It will thus beseen that I have developed a novel clicker toy having noise producingelements so constructed and arranged as to permit the making of clickingnoises with little danger of cracking or breaking the U-shaped noisemaker.

It is possible to vary the pitch of the noise produced by toy 1 byplacing the thumb and forefinger over the top and bottom of the spacedefined between arms 4 and 6 in the manner indicated in phantom lines inFIG. 7. This has the effect of providing a substantially enclosed soundchamber between arms 4 and 6 within which the sound waves are confinedand muffled. The operators fingers serve to dampen and absorb the soundwaves emanating from reed 12, with the result that the clicking noise islower pitched.

I contemplate that various changes may be made in the size, shape andarrangement of the component part of the clicker toy shown and describedherein without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention asdefined by the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. A noise making toy comprising:

a generally U-shaped member having a forward nose portion and first andsecond arms extending rearwardly therefrom, said first one of said armsbeing movable inwardly towards said second arm;

a flexible reed extending rearwardly from said nose portion between saidfirst and second arms and terminating at a free end therebetween;

a cam member depending inwardly from said first arm toward said reed,said cam member being so constructed and arranged that as said first armis moved inwardly toward said second arm, said cam member engages saidfree end of said reed, flexes said reed in the direction of movement ofsaid first arm, and then disengages said free end, thereby releasingsaid reed and permitting it to snap against said first arm to therebyproduce a clicking noise. I

2. A noise making toy as defined in claim 1, and further including:

a stop member projecting inwardly from said second arm toward said reedat a point between said nose portion and said free end of said reed,whereby said cam member moves said reed into contact with said stopmember and bends said reed thereover as said first arm is moved inwardlyto thereby impart a spring action to said reed when it is released bysaid cam member.

3. A noise making toy as defined in claim 2, wherein:

said reed and said cam member have enlarged contact portions on the endsthereof by means of which said cam member engages said free end of saidreed and flexes it away from said stop member as said first arm returnsoutwardly to its normal position of rest, said cam member subsequentlymoving out of engagement with said free end of said reed whereby saidreed springs inwardly and snaps against said stop member to produce asecond clicking noise.

4. A noise making toy as defined in claim 3, wherein:

said enlarged end portions on said cam member and said reed are ofsubstantially cylindrical shape and are arranged with their longitudinalaxes substantially parallel to each other, whereby said enlarged contactportions contact each other along curvilinear surfaces therebypermitting said cam member to sequentially engage and then release saidfree end of said reed as said first arm moves inwardly towards and thenoutwardly away from said reed.

5. A noise making toy as defined in claim 2, wherein:

said U-shaped member is constructed from relatively hard material, saidnose portion is of arcuate shape, and said arms are movable toward saidreed by applying inwardly directed pressure to the outer ends of saidarms, said pressure causing said arcuate nose portion to deform slightlyin order to permit the movement of said first arm necessary to actuatesaid reed.

6. A noise making toy as defined in claim 5, wherein:

said toy is molded as an integral unit from hard-setting plastic.

7. A noise making toy as defined in claim 1, and further including:

stiffening Webs on each of said first and second arms.

6 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS LOUIS G. MANCENE, PrimaryExaminer D. L. WElNHOLD, JR., Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

